In my role as Chair of the Committee on Transport, I again want to highlight the road safety crisis on Irish roads. Already this year, 28 precious lives have been lost and 190 lives were lost last year. Of course, behind every one of those statistics are a family and community devastated. I believe this to be a profound failure of our road safety strategy. I do not think the issues can be addressed by a single Department. Matters like enforcement, court processes, emergency responses and legislative reform intersec…

I want to speak on behalf of the small businesses that are the backbone of our local economies. They are the real heroes at local level in light of the extent to which they invest local, spend local and hire local. These businesses are under huge pressure as a result of increased costs, something that is acknowledged on page 15 of the programme for Government. The programme for Government contains a commitment to making changes to employers' PRSI to ease the pressure on small businesses. Is consideration being give…

I begin by acknowledging the scale of the Government's investment in special education. This year, over €3 billion is being invested in special educational supports. We will have nearly 25,000 SNAs in our schools in September - an additional 1,700 this year alone. The number of SNAs has increased by approximately 45% since 2020 and by 47% in my constituency of Tipperary. We cannot say that this is not significant progress. It reflects a genuine commitment by this Government. Investment is not enough, however. What …

I raise this Topical Issue because children across south Tipperary, and children across the south east, are being left without access to basic community ophthalmology services due to repeated recruitment failure following the planned retirement of the previous consultant, Dr. Hillery, in August 2024. This is not a new issue. I have raised it repeatedly throughout 2025, in February, April, July, October and December and, most recently, in January of this year. On every occasion, I sought an update on the recruitment…

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome confirmation that there has been concrete interest and that a number of applicants have applied after the most recent recruitment drive. It is important that a permanent consultant ophthalmologist is in place at the earliest opportunity. I also support additional contingency measures and the scoping exercise referred to by the Minister of State, linking in with the Dublin hospital because we have waiting lists. I alluded to the fact 1,800 children, mostly under the age of fi…

I speak on behalf of the small convenience store, often the only store now in every village in rural Ireland. I want to raise serious concerns about the new tobacco and vaping licence fee due this month. What was a once-off fee of €50 is now a combined annual fee of €1,800. That is a 3,500% increase and 36 times higher than what it previously was. I understand the public health issue at the heart of this, but the fact that the small convenience store must pay the same as the big players in the market - the Tesco an…

I have a copy of the RSA's provisional review of fatalities for last year. I encourage all Members, as policymakers and legislators, to read this review because it reflects the crisis we have in this country when it comes to road safety. Last year, 190 precious lives were lost. They were 76 drivers, 21 passengers, 41 pedestrians, 14 pedal cyclists, 30 motorcyclists and three e-scooter-related deaths. Forty-five were under the age of 25 and 43 were over the age of 66. In my county of Tipperary, ten lives were lost c…

I ask the Tánaiste to provide an update on the proposed college of the future for Clonmel. It is a project with which the Tánaiste is very familiar. The proposal is the first of its kind for a fully integrated tertiary campus of further and higher education on the one site in the heart of Clonmel. I pay tribute to all of the stakeholders involved, particularly Tús and Tipperary ETB. We are very much ready to move forward to the detailed design and planning phase. It is on the former Kickham Barracks site in Clonmel…

I take this opportunity to highlight a very strong example of how Government investment in infrastructure and regeneration can deliver a real and measurable impact. That example is Clonmel, which is identified as a key economic driver in the regional economic and spatial strategy. Clonmel has spent the past number of years doing exactly what national policy has encouraged towns to do, namely developing a coherent, strategic, long-term regeneration plan, backed by delivery capacity and local commitment. The Clonmel …

I ask the Minister for an update on the provision of post mortem services at Waterford University Hospital following the decision by HSE pathologists operating as independent contractors for the Department of justice to withdraw from the service from 1 January.

As the Minister says, this is ultimately the responsibility of the Department of justice under the Coroners Act. I thank the Minister for her engagement with me over the last six months. As she knows, behind every post mortem is a family in deep distress and shock. Often, these post mortems are the result of a sudden, accidental or tragic death. I welcome these interim arrangements. It is not ideal. It is my understanding that these locum pathologists are coming in from the UK three days a week. I know that members…

I agree and I acknowledge that our HSE pathologists have been doing this work as independent contractors. However, these pathologists are primarily concerned and occupied by diagnostic, surgical pathology work, for example, in cancer diagnosis. Therefore, for obvious reasons, they are withdrawing as independent contractors. Between 3,000 to 4,000 coronial post mortems are carried out annually in the country at various locations, namely, Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Galway and Waterford. Is there merit in looking at this…

The Minister just mentioned the allocation of gardaí to Cork. Maintaining law and order is not just a challenge for Cork or Dublin; it is also a challenge for every town and village across Ireland. The absence of a Garda presence has become normalised rather than exceptional in my constituency of south Tipperary. A town without order is a town that shuts down socially and economically. The Minister mentioned the most recent intake of 251, with 154 gardaí allocated - two thirds - to Dublin and Cork. What are we to c…

Somewhat following on from the last question on the wage subsidy scheme, I want to acknowledge the reforms introduced by the Minister over the last number of years. I want to further explore the possibility of reducing the minimum hours from 15 to ten. Doing so this would help many service users in centres of excellence like MooreHaven in Tipperary town to achieve their dreams and it would make working in local communities a more realistic option.

I welcome the Minister's reply. I thank and acknowledge everybody working within the scheme and, in particular, individuals in the Department of Social Protection around the country working on this and other activation schemes. It is such a fantastic scheme and it is not about money or policy. It is about being able to be seen to be capable of working, to be able to work with others. I am conscious of those individuals who just do not have the capacity to work 15 hours a week and may only have the capacity to work …

It was remiss of me not to acknowledge the many employers across the country who participate in the scheme. Indeed, their willingness to provide opportunities has had such a positive impact. I am engaging with service providers, not just the MooreHaven centre, but others within my constituency, and they have indicated to me that the ten-hour threshold would be far more achievable, first of all, for many employers but more importantly, it would better suit the needs of many participants, having regard to their abili…

One hundred and ninety precious lives were lost on Irish roads last year. We have a crisis when it comes to road safety. We also have a crisis when it comes to compliance with existing road traffic legislation. In December alone, there were 26,500 fines for speeding, thousands were fined for not wearing a seatbelt or for using a mobile phone, 765 were convicted of either drink or drug driving, and 3,000 vehicles were seized on the side of the road. That was in December alone. Driver behaviour matters. Enforcement s…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate following the European Council meeting in December. I will focus my remarks on Ireland’s upcoming Presidency of the EU and the opportunity that this presents to reconnect European policymaking with people and communities on the ground across the country. Europe is not an abstract concept; Europe is present in every city, town and village across Ireland. It is present in our roads and public transport, water and housing infrastructure, community facilities, skil…

Following the Minister's recent visit to south Tipperary, what is the current status of the IDA-owned lands at Ballingarrane in Clonmel? Can he confirm the extent to which IDA Ireland is actively marketing the site, state whether any expressions of interest have been received for the site and outline the timeline for the delivery of an advance building solution that was recently granted planning permission on the site?

I thank the Minister for his reply. In particular, I thank him for visiting south Tipperary in December, when he got an opportunity to see the strengths of south Tipperary and of our key towns, particularly Clonmel. He also got an opportunity to see our strengths in terms of our strong employment and the really strong presence of medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturing industries. All of this is backed up by a strong set of skills, proper infrastructure and, as I said, an established industrial base. As the…